Sherryfest is coming to town

A sherry cask at one of the soleras of La Guita, in Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain. (Photo: Jon Bonne/The Chronicle)

San Francisco embraces offbeat like nowhere else. So it is only fitting that sherry, that most misunderstood and glorious of wines, will have the latest edition of its grand coming-out party here next week. Sherryfest is coming to town.

The only question for sherry is: What took you so long? We’ve been enthusiastic fans out this way for a long time, back to the days when Darrell Corti was evangelizing for the stuff from his Sacramento grocery. Five years ago, before it hit most wine nerds’ radar, San Francisco was already witnessing a sherry boomlet, both for the wine itself and for cocktails that used it.

In any case, be glad Sherryfest is here. Its grand tasting will be held at Bluxome Street Winery on Wednesday, June 18, featuring wines from 21 different sherry houses — more sherry in one room than you’re likely to encounter anywhere outside Andalusia.

By the way: It’s free, if you register. (The consumer tasting runs from 2 to 4 p.m., so rev up that New Economy schedule for the day.)

The roster includes both well-known houses like Lustau and Gonzalez Byass, and little-known gems like Fernando de Castilla and Bodegas Tradicion. That will provide a chance to see not only the great and well-known traditions of sherry, but also great new projects appearing at Jerez’s fringes — small bottlings from excellent old soleras, recaptured for a modern audience.

Not to distract you from free sherry, but Sherryfest’s real gems might be its smaller events, a series of classes and dinners that highlight individual producers and styles of wine. The classes, most of them at 18 Reasons and $30 or $40 per person, range from the basics (a run through the diverse style of sherries) to, say, a master class on palo cortado — rare chances to learn straight from the source, as winemakers and staff from most key sherry houses will be in town and conducting the classes.

Dinners will be taking over such spots as Trou Normand, Central Kitchen and St. Vincent. Tickets are generally $130 per person, all inclusive.

If this sounds comprehensive, that’s because it is being coordinated by sherry expert Peter Liem (a former Chronicle contributor) whose book, “Sherry, Manzanilla and Montilla” is the best modern book on the topic, and New York wine expert Rosemary Gray, with a bit of help from Jerez’s Consejo Regulador, or official trade body. In other words, most of the world’s sherry expertise will be in town next week.

This is the third year for Sherryfest, which began in 2012 in New York, but considering San Francisco’s appreciation for the stuff, we’ll consider it a bit of a victory lap. After all, one of the world’s most offbeat wines also happens to be one of the most exceptional.

Sherryfest runs June 17-20. More information, registration and tickets at sherryfest.com.